


Rural Eccentric

by TheColorBlue



Series: Frozen Heart [3]
Category: Frozen (2013)
Genre: F/M, Kristoff's Sami background, among other topics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-01
Updated: 2013-12-01
Packaged: 2018-01-03 04:45:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1065921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheColorBlue/pseuds/TheColorBlue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kristoff has a history of picking up quirks and eccentricities.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rural Eccentric

There was a Sami village between the ice harvesting fields and the kingdom of Arendelle. Kristoff lived in that village until he was eight, and then things, as they say, _got weird_. 

He’d been orphaned that winter, you see, and his only living relative might have been an estranged cousin who was one of the reindeer herders and, more importantly, not actually in the general geographical area at the time. Kristoff lived with Sven in the tiny cabin that had belonged to his parents. Another woman in the village had helped him sell the drum and carved cups that his father and mother had made, but Kristoff kept the lute. The lute had not been made by his parents; his mother had bought it in the market of Arendelle and taught herself how to play it. It was nearly too big for him, but Kristoff liked to cradle it in his arms and remember how his mother would sing. At home, she would mix traditional joiking with improvisations on the lute. Pretty unorthodox, but probably that was where Kristoff got some of his own unorthodox tendencies from. That, and then there had been the influence of the trolls—but that was later. 

Living on his own, Kristoff also fished and traded the fish for what he needed—but really what he wanted was to be an ice harvester, like his dad had been. In the summer, Kristoff followed the harvesters to the fields, even when they yelled at him not to get underfoot, tiny little scrap of a thing that he was. They yelled at him, and Kristoff tried to keep out of the way, but he wouldn’t leave. He wouldn’t go home. It was just him and Sven now, and he was going to be an adult now. He was going to make his own way in the world. 

The trolls had been a surprise. Kristoff didn’t know. It was probable that if they hadn’t taken him in, he would have just grown up to be surlier and surlier, absolutely jaded with the world. 

As it was, he just grew up to be weird. He knew he was weird. He knew that he smelled funny—not just from hanging around Sven all the time, but also from the thermal vents around the troll village, and the peculiar smell of the earth and stones and plants there. He knew that sometimes he said things that made people like twice at him, and sideways. He knew that the only reason he even looked remotely normal was because he bought or traded for clothes from the Sami village—and that was like, twice a year, maybe. He didn’t mind it when his troll siblings draped him in funny hats or garlands of grass and flowers. It made him feel more like… well, _him_. He wasn’t really like the trolls, or like the humans, but gosh, did he not give a heck when he was with his family, draped all over him and heavy as sacks of rocks, asking if he was eating enough or wanted to play a game or why didn’t he have a girlfriend yet, honestly honestly. Or a boyfriend, they weren’t picky about that, so long as he felt the love _in his heart_. 

Dating Princess Anna meant swimming in such utter decadence sometimes when he really just wanted to go hide in a barn. There was chocolate and paintings and gilt salad plates and sometimes dressing up in layers of clothing that Kristoff was afraid to walk around in, honestly. Or eat in. How could anyone eat in these things, weren’t they afraid they’d ruin them with just one unfortunate soup or krumkake incident? 

During one such party, Anna patted Kristoff on the cheek, and remarked, “Hey, relax, you know? Wear the clothes, don’t let them wear you, you goofball.” 

Kristoff smiled tightly. It probably came out half a grimace. 

Anna looked at him, then smiled fondly and said, “It’s just for an hour or two, while Elsa’s entertaining the ambassadors. Need to show off my future prince consort, right? Then we can go hang out with Sven and Olaf and climb the walls of this place or whatever you want.”

“Carrots,” Kristoff said, for some reason. “I’d love a carrot right now.” 

He always craved carrots when he was hit with nerves. Terrible habit. He was the weirdest weirdo in weirdtown and he knew it, but Anna didn’t seem to mind. She just laughed, and took his hand in hers, and led him to the kitchens to scrounge up a snack before the dinner. He felt better then. Maybe he wasn’t the only resident of wierdtown, if Anna was so willing to go along with him, or to bring her own quirks in a handbasket. 

Anna probably really did want to climb the roofs of the castle later. 

Kristoff smiled, even when Anna couldn’t see him do it, walking in the lead. 

He’d be okay with that.


End file.
